Tag Archives: kolsch

Kölschy Kölsch

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My homebrew club had a kölsch-style ale scheduled as our March contest beer. Well…world events meant that we couldn’t get together. But, I could still do my own tasting at home!

I decided to go for a super-simple beer, with a minimalist grain bill. Last year, I did a kölsch with the Kolsch malt from Schill malting. It turned out pretty well, but was a bit darker than acceptable for the style. So, I used around 1/3 of this malt and the rest was pilsen malt, to lighten up the beer and make the flavor a touch more subtle. I have read in several places that wheat malt is not frequently used in “traditional” grain bills, so I chose to leave this out. Finally, I used Liberty hops for an American twist, and chose WLP029 (White Labs’ German Ale/Kolsch yeast).

As for the recipe name…well, I wasn’t feeling that creative!

Kölschy Kölsch

  • 7.25 lb. Superior Pilsen Malt (Great Western Malting)
  • 3.5 lb. Kölsch (Schill Malting)
  • 1.5 oz. Liberty hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Liberty hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. German Ale / Kölsch yeast, WLOP024 (White Labs)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 151°, batch sparge
  • 1.047 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 4.9% abv, 24 IBU, 4 SRM
  • “Cologne-ish water”, built from 8.5 gallons of RO water with 3.5 g baking soda, 4.5 g of epsom salt, 4.0 g of calcium chloride, and 2.5 g of gypsum, to hit 52 ppm Ca, 14 ppm Mg, 30 ppm Na, 98 ppm SO4, 60 ppm Cl, 78 ppm HCO3, RA=19 ppm, alkalinity=64 ppm

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.6 gallons of water at 162°, to hit a 150° mash temperature. It was down to 146° after 45 minutes.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 1.25 gallons of water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, and vorlaufed before collecting the first runnings.
  • Next, I added 3.6 gallons of water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.2 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.041, for 76% efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and other ingredients per the recipe.
  • After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort, before transferring to the fermenter and pitching the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.050, and I fermented at 65°.
  • I brewed the beer on 25 January 2020, and had vigorous fermentation within 24 hours. I moved the beer to ambient conditions on 1 February 2020.
  • I kegged the beer on 29 February 2020, and was able to save around 1/2 quart of yeast for a future brew (probably an altbier).
  • Final gravity was 1.010, which equates to 5.3% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Clear, nearly brilliant. Light gold color, with a fine white head. The head is low but persistent around the edges of the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Sweet graininess, with a light touch of honey and apple–almost a Riesling-type character. No hop aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Grainy and lightly sweet grain character, with a subdued apple or pear-like fruitiness. Hop flavor is minimal, although the bitterness is a little stronger than I anticipated.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderately light body; crisp, but not overly dry. There is a lingering hop bitterness in the finish…it hangs around perhaps a touch more than is completely enjoyable for my taste.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a pretty good beer, with a nice flavor and appearance. I feel like the malt character is a bit stronger than I really want for this style, so I might go with a 100% pilsner or pilsner+American 2-row version in the future, or mix in some Vienna malt instead. That said, though, it’s a solid version of a kölsch!
  • Overall
    • 8.5/10

Kölsch Simple

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IMG_20190628_144212As I continue my explorations of German-style brewing, a kölsch-style ale seemed like a good next step for the summer months. My local brew shop had a kolsch malt from Schill, that was supposed to have a really nice flavor. It’s a touch on the dark side (4.5 SRM), but I thought what the heck, let’s roll with it anyhow. I’m glad I did, because the malt character really is spectacular (rich and bready), even if the beer is too deep in color to satisfy kölsch purists! The beer has drastically improved since I first kegged it. This particular yeast strain has nice background character, but takes forever to drop clear (which I would have realized if I had read about it in more depth). As a result, the beer was a sort of muddy, unattractive mess for the first few weeks. Thankfully, this could be fixed by time and cold…

Kölsch Simple

  • 9 lb. Kolsch malt (Schill)
  • 1 lb. Barke pilsner malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 lb. carapils malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. white wheat malt (Great Western)
  • 2 oz. Saaz hop pellets (3.35% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax, 10 minute boil
  • 0.6 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hop pellets (4.0% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. SafAle German Ale dry yeast (K-97, 11 g)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 149°, batch sparge
  • 1.048 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.0% abv, 24 IBU, 6 SRM
  • “Cologne-ish water”, built from 8.5 gallons of RO water with 1.5 g baking soda, 1.4 g of epsom salt, 1.25 g of calcium chloride, and 0.75 g of gypsum, to hit 16 ppm Ca, 4 ppm Mg, 13 ppm Na, 30 ppm SO4, 19 ppm Cl, 34 ppm HCO3, RA=14 ppm, alkalinity=27 ppm

Procedure

  • I built my strike water with 3.75 gallons of RO water augmented with 0.75 g gypsum, 1.25 g CaCl, 1.4 g epsom salt, 1.5 g baking soda, and heated it up to 160°. This hit my 148° mash temperature target. I added 0.5 tbs. of 88% lactic acid to the mash.
  • I sparged with RO water, in two batches. First, with 1.25 gallons at 185°, added to the mash. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected first runnings. Next, I added 3.6 gallons, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.044, for 80% mash efficiency.
  • I boiled the wort for 60 minutes, adding the various hops and finings as in the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled before transferring.
  • I chilled the beer in the fermentation chamber down to 65° before pitching the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.050. I brewed this beer on 19 April 2019, and there were preliminary signs of fermentation by the next morning.  Primary fermentation was at 65°.
  • I cold crashed the beer on 16 May 2019, and kegged it on 18 May 2019. Final gravity was 1.011, for an overall abv of 5.1%.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Clear, but not brilliant, with a slight haze (it has cleared considerably over the past few weeks); deep gold color; frothy white head that is pretty persistent.
  • Aroma
    • Bready malt note, with a bit of spicy hop aroma behind that; a slight hint of fruitiness.
  • Flavor
    • Bready, with a modest bitterness behind that; bitterness is smooth and rounded. The beer has a slightly fruity yeast character, which has subsided considerably since the first tastes.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderate body, with smooth finish; moderate carbonation
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Not in this form. I would cut the kölsch malt with pilsner malt, perhaps 50/50. I would also look for another yeast–perhaps the White Labs equivalent? This is a nice German-style ale, but not kölsch in the traditional sense.
  • Overall
    • 6.5/10